ABSTRACT
The accident at the Fukushima Daichii nuclear power plant in Japan after the extraordinary earthquake and tsunamis on 11 March 2011 ended several years of rapidly increasing construction starts of new plants and put the technology on a slower growth trajectory. While some governments have decided to phase out the use of nuclear power over the next decades, interest continues especially in large rapidly developing economies in Asia, in economies without significant indigenous fossil resources, and in jurisdictions that value the climate change mitigation benefits of nuclear power. This chapter surveys the rationale for pursuing nuclear power from the vantage points of economics, finance, safety and waste disposal, public acceptance, non-proliferation, and technical innovation.
